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“A company needs only to perform the Conformance Self-Validation using FIDO’s test tools, complete its Interoperability Testing, and then submit documentation for final certification; after that, it’s just a matter of deciding how to implement FIDO’s trademark.”

There are now over 360 devices supporting the FIDO Alliance‘s authentication standards, the international consortium has announced.

FIDO Alliance Ecosystem Exceeds 360 Certified ProductsThe new watermark suggests rapid growth in the FIDO ecosystem, with the Alliance having announced that it had reached 335 FIDO Certified products in April. The latest additions to the roster come from some big names including HYPR Corp., ING, Shenzhen National Engineering Laboratory of Digital Television Co., and more.

In a statement announcing the new milestone, the FIDO Alliance Technical Director Adam Powers emphasized the simplicity of the FIDO certification process. A company needs only to perform the Conformance Self-Validation using FIDO’s test tools, complete its Interoperability Testing, and then submit documentation for final certification; after that, it’s just a matter of deciding how to implement FIDO’s trademark.

Powers added that FIDO is now “looking forward to new certification programs being developed to accommodate new specifications and maturing requirements for organizations implementing and deploying FIDO-based solutions,” and said that announcements about those initiatives can be expected in the coming months.

SWIFT has announced that 22 additional global banks have joined its blockchain proof of concept (PoC).

The PoC was designed to validate whether the technology can help banks reconcile their international nostro accounts in real time and is part of the SWIFT gpi (global payments innovation) service, the new standard for cross-border payments.

A group of India-based banking companies including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and DCB Bank has opted for Microsoft Azure as their cloud blockchain provider.

All 20 members of the BankChain consortium, which completed its KYC, AML/CTF platform testing in May 2016, will use Microsoft’s Azure blockchain to host the nodes for transactions on their distributed ledger systems.

India-based Primechain Technologies will build the first project to use Azure, which will consist of a closed, permissioned blockchain. The tool will allow clients to share know-your-customer (KYC), anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing data.

Several new financial and fintech entities, including JP Morgan, Emercoin and Bitshares have been added to Micrososft’s Azure cloud computing platform. The companies will use the new available blockchain technology as a ‘sandbox’ development environment where partners can interact and experiment with different technologies.

AvidXchange has signed a USD 300 million agreement with Mastercard to deliver accounts payable (AP) and and payment automation for SMEs.

Besides Mastercard, among the signing partners, also include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Temasek and Peter Thiel.

The companies formed the partnership to leverage AvidXchange’s capability and strength in Accounts Payable (AP) and payment automation as well as Mastercard’s commercial payment solutions with the aim to provide additional solutions to the middle market sector.

AvidXchange will also serve as the execution partner for Mastercard’s launch of the Mastercard B2B Hub in the US as part of the deal.

Later in 2017, the hub will be made available to companies through their bank or commercial card issuer. AvidXchange will offer banks who choose not to utilize their own card payment capabilities with The Mastercard B2B Hub program options through its existing relationships with Comdata and KeyBank.